In an age where authenticity reigns, brands clinging to glossy perfection face being ignored, muted, or worse, ridiculed. Gen Z and younger Millennials are not just digital natives; they’re digital skeptics. They’ve developed an incredible ability to detect anything that appears over-produced, over-promised, or simply insincere. So, why do some companies still refuse to move beyond the “Mad Men” era of calculated refinement?

Polish is Out, Personality Is In

What’s trending on YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok today? Unsharp, front-facing camera footage. You’ll see direct speeches, sketches sprinkled with memes, and slightly disorganized editing. This isn’t laziness; it’s strategic. Indeed, the rejection of overly staged content drives the rise of lo-fi, not a lack of resources.

Instead of flawlessly managed feeds from celebrities or influencers, 62% of Gen Z prefer to see advertisements featuring “real” individuals. Consequently, brands that fail to capture their values of authenticity, relatability, and spontaneity quickly get scrolled past.

The Problem With Over-Curation

For a long time, companies operated under the false premise that every pixel had to be spot-on. They required cinematic lighting, content needed input from three tiers of senior management, and legal double-checked all captions. However, all that flawlessness often came at the expense of genuine connection.

Overproduced content can feel artificial, cold, and unapproachable. The vocabulary is overly cautious, and the graphics are too polished. In doing so, brands effectively mute the human voice. Today’s customers are demanding: “Prove to me that you’re human, or I won’t buy from you.”

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What the Best Brands Are Doing Differently

Intelligent brands are adjusting quickly. Here’s how:

• Brands lean toward creator-led content: Content producers tell the stories instead of the brands. Consider Notion’s collaborations with YouTubers who promote productivity, or Duolingo’s delightfully disorganized TikTok presence.
• Top brands embrace imperfection: They actively let go of perfection. We see this in Wendy’s clever roasts and Nike’s user-generated content, among others.
• Lo-Fi doesn’t mean no effort: Being deliberate matters more than doing less. Storytelling, editing, and planning are still necessary for lo-fi content. What sets it apart? It values relationships more than authority.
• Illuminating the backstage: Customers enjoy seeing what’s going on behind the scenes. Brands are becoming more open about their processes, including who works on the team and what happens when campaigns fail. Importantly, being open and honest is a strength, not a weakness.

Why Authenticity Matters More Than Ever

Our ability to focus is limited. Mistrust is prevalent. Crucially, algorithms value sincerity. Being too formal in this setting makes your brand appear unprofessional and out of date. In a content-rich world, your compassion, not your wallet, will ultimately set you apart.

How to Adapt Without Losing Brand Integrity

Becoming a meme generator isn’t necessary for every brand. Nevertheless, every brand must discover its own unique voice. Here’s how to start:

• Listen to your voice: Are you sounding more like a corporation or an individual? Rewrite your language and captions to sound more conversational, clear, and assured.
• Test Lo-Fi Content: Compare low-quality versus high-quality content in an A/B test. You’ll likely find the “shabby” one performs better.
• Empower your loyal consumers or employees to be creative: Their viewpoint establishes credibility far more quickly than branded stock content.

Moving forward, the charm of genuine content is its tolerance. Authenticity is more important than perfection. The bottom line is: once upon a time, perfection was the aim. Now, it signals a warning. Your brand needs to change if it sounds like a news release. Your competitive advantage in 2025 and beyond will be based on your authenticity, not your beautiful appearance.

Why? Because today’s viewers have a BS filter. And it’s on at all times.